QUOTE: “Yeah, I’d worry about the way battery life declines with age, and the expense of replacing all of them…”

You may not have much to fear concerning battery technology in the future. A team of researchers at MIT came up with the idea of using carbon nanotubes to hold charges. They claim the benefits over current battery technology are greatly increased surface area for charging, virtually indefinite life span, and a charging time of mere minutes.

Sounds too good to be true, completely anyways, but the nanotube revolution could finally save battery technology. They’re going to be attempting this nanotube technology in consumer electronics within a couple years.

Since there are thousands of batteries, if one fails it doesn’t really matter. I think the quote from the company spokespan was something along the lines of “it would be like putting a marble in a gas tank”
Also, if this is anything like the Prius, the batteries are warrantied for 100,000 miles

I heard on a radio interview that replacement of the entire battery matrix would cost about $20,000 right now, and that they should last about 150,000 miles.

That sounds quite optimistic for Li-ion technology (assuming 15,000 miles/yr travel). I’m also wondering if the range of the car will drop from about 250 miles to about 125 miles within two to three years.

doink: I got some good news for ya buddy. Cal Cars. This is a group that not only currently converts hybrids to plugins, but also converts non-hybrid vehicles to hybrids. They have done some amazing things, check them out. Oh and Toyota and Honda have both stated publicly that they plan to implement plugins into their hybrids in the next couple years.

Ok, it is a really cool car and I’d love to drive it. I’ve owned an Alfa Romeo that could do upwards of 130 mph and get there pretty quickly. So I understand the allure. However it is still a damn car and what we need are better alternative modes of public transportation and a complete redesign of our cities and living spaces to eliminate the need as much as possible for individuals to transport themselves cocooned in a couple thousand pounds of materials. Electric powered or not a traffic jam is still a traffic jam. An electric bus or train makes a lot more sense to me. I still miss living in New York where I didn’t need a car at all. Anyway, sorry to be a spoil sport, but to make up for it check out this beautiful vision of reality. http://www.solarlab.org/. I especially like the solarcab/rickshaw and the solar bus.